Smokey vocals punctuated by soulful blues guitar? Yes, please! British guitarist and singer Joanne ShawTaylor lays it all out in her new album, Reckless Heart, out May 17 on Sony Music’s Silvertone Records.

As badass as they come, Shaw Taylor goes from sultry to rockin’ and everything in between. With strong, singable vocal riffs and fierce guitar tone, Reckless Heart finds this artist laying her heart on the line as she explores an autobiographical breakup and reconciliation. Always good fodder for great music!

Recorded in Detroit with her longtime friend, producer Al Sutton (Greta Van Fleet, Kid Rock), this is the first project the two have worked on together. “Al had said that if we ever did an album together, he wanted it to be more live and more raw, which was my mindset for this album, particularly given that the previous couple of releases have been a bit more polished,” says Shaw Taylor. “I wanted something more organic and I wanted to write this one myself. I wanted it to be a bit more of a personal album.”

Listen to her newest single from the album, “All My Love” right here:

Shaw Taylor was discovered at 16 by Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart, and has spent a decade releasing increasingly successful albums, touring the world, headlining festivals and amassing awards. Along the way, she has won over fans from Joe Bonamassa to Stevie Wonder to Annie Lennox, with whom she performed in front of Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee concert in 2012.

Watch “Bad Love” here:

Here we caught up with Shaw Taylor to chat about Reckless Heart:

Talk a little bit about working with Al Sutton. Was there anything that surprised you about being in the studio with him? You had anticipated this for a long time.

Yeah, in little ways. I think more because we were such good friends. It was kind of where you go into a situation where you’ve been with someone for 10 years and you go drinking together and down to the pub and to weddings together and stuff. It was kind of weird to see him in a professional environment. But we worked really well together, so I guess that was kind of nice to see that we both could connect on a professional level, as well as just having a good friendship.

You recently signed with Silvertone, which is the home of some of your influences and people that you love to listen to. Can you share what it was like for you to be on the same label as them?

I had pictures of these albums on my bedroom wall and they all had Silvertone on them. When they came forward and approached me, that was pretty cool! It was just awesome.

Can you share a bit about your approach to the blues and how you think it fits into the musical landscape today?

I don’t consider myself an out and out blues artist. I don’t think my album is a repetition or expectation of what a blues album generally would sound like. I approach music from a blues musician point of view. I’ve been deep rooted in that styling. There’s a feel to it. That definitely shows in my music. Even if I want to branch out to soul and pop or rock, that kind of feel that I got in the early days, it’s still there.

Yes. It informs you, but you don’t have to be so strict what you do with that foundation.

Exactly. And that’s why I got into playing blues guitar, because I was playing classical guitar at school, which was so regimented. And then I went and saw Albert Collins, who was playing guitar in a really weird tuning with a capo on the 8th fret with whatever fingers he wanted and just a really bizarre technique, and it was just really refreshing to see something that’s kind of all bets are off, do what you want. But just inject your own personality into it.

Is there a particular song or two from Reckless Heart that you just really love to play live?

There are a few actually. I love “Best Thing.” Which is one of my favorites on the album. I hadn’t really done anything like that in previous albums, so it’s quite a nice change of pace. I feel the same for “Reckless Heart” and “Bad Love” is definitely my favorite to play live. It’s just so kind of a balls-to-the-wall old ‘70s or ‘80s kind of rock. It’s so much fun.

Your voice too is so powerful. Are people surprised when they hear you sing?

Just a little bit, I think. I never thought I’d be a singer, so it’s nice to get complimented on it. And you know, I always thought I was just going to be a guitar player that sang to get through it until you get to the guitar solo. It’s been a nice surprise in my career that I enjoy singing and people seem to like it.

Joan Shaw Taylor’s U.S. tour kicks off May 17 in celebration of the release of Reckless Heart and will continue through the fall.

AMG/Parade Digital

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